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University Charter School
Helping Students in Crisis
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University Charter School
Helping Students in Crisis
University Charter School (UCS) represents an innovative and successful charter
model that meets the needs of traditionally underserved students. UCS is headquartered
in the Continuing and Extended Education Division at the University of Texas
at Austin, but UCS campuses are housed in seventeen residential treatment facilities
and special programs spread across central and eastern Texas. For over four
years, UCS has served a variety of students with unique educational needs, including
teenage mothers and their babies living in residential facilities, adjudicated
teenagers in residential centers, abused and neglected children residing in
facilities at the request of the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services,
children with medical disorders living in private hospitals, and elite level
gymnasts seeking a program to maximize educational opportunities while maintaining
an intense training schedule. UCS’s profile includes over 94% at-risk,
60% special education, and 55% mobile students. This challenging student body
is served by certified administrators with many years of service in public school
and nearly 100% certified teachers, most with certification in special education.
The UCS model was created primarily to provide coordinated services for students
in treatment centers and special programs due to ineffectiveness of existing
programs for students in crisis. In a traditional model, students in treatment
programs are transported across campus or across town to receive several hours
of daily academic instruction from teachers who function separately from the
treatment program, surrounded by a community that does not support the students'
therapeutic growth. With this traditional model, problems invariably arise from
the disconnect between school and therapy environments, including the teachers’
lack of appropriate training to support each student’s specific treatment
program. Multiple student suspensions, lack of communication between treatment
counselors and teachers, inability to closely supervise and monitor students,
and students getting “lost” in large programs drove facility directors
to seek another educational model that could offer a broader continuum of services.
In response, UCS built an educational option for students needing a well-coordinated,
comprehensive educational program in the context of their treatment or special
program. The UCS model addresses the needs of the “whole child”-
educational, medical, social, and emotional - by having the educational staff
coordinate with and support the treatment staff (participating in clinical meetings,
supporting clinical supervision, and receiving appropriate training), and by
having treatment staff regularly in the classroom assisting and supporting academic
instruction. The coherence and coordination of services provided to children
through UCS enhances educational opportunities while strengthening the treatment
and care these children are receiving.
For example, prior to contracting with UCS, battered women seeking shelter,
safety, and support at a women’s crisis center had no option but to send
their children to their local school district. However, because of unstable
family situations, the students frequently displayed behavioral problems in
school and were often suspended or sent to the office. When this happened, it
was not possible for the school to contact the mother because of the mother's
secure placement in the shelter. Students missed instruction, mothers were uncomfortable
sending a child in turmoil to school, were uncomfortable with the possibility
that their abusive husbands or partners might attempt to contact the child at
the public school, and teachers did not always have the appropriate skills to
handle a child in crisis and the ensuing security issues. Now, a partnership
between the women's crisis center and UCS provides an opportunity for children
to attend school on-site at the shelter with other students experiencing similar
issues, and with teachers specially trained and experienced in helping students
cope while continuing daily instruction. Clearly, students in treatment centers
and special day programs need options for educational services that are beyond
the scope of traditional school systems. The director of the crisis shelter
served by UCS, recently offered these supportive comments:
| I have been working with the children living in this facility for 13 years. During that time we researched and tried many options for children's educational needs. We entered into an agreement with University Charter School to provide an educational program on site in 2000. This has been an incredible collaboration. The educational and academic resources offered by University Charter School are tremendous. We have seen children improve in academic areas in short periods of time when that may not have happened without the Charter's resources. I am very grateful to the UCS for their commitment to the children we serve and to the educational needs of all children. |
Since the inception of the UCS model in 1998, UCS has served 3,214 students. Of those students, 2,361 have returned to a Texas Public School, 261 returned to an out of state school, 69 have enrolled in a private school, 15 have withdrawn to attend home school, 80 have withdrawn to enroll in an alternative program, and 25 have graduated from UCS. These statistics show that UCS has been successful helping students stabilize and improve both academically and behaviorally, enabling them to function appropriately in environments with less structure and supervision.
Success Stories
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